2017 ECP Chess Challenge

The East Central Province held its first ever Province Chess tournament on April 1st, 2017 during their 65th Province Council in Columbus, Ohio. The event was organized and directed by Brother Roy-Allen Bumpers of the Cleveland Alumni Chapter. Brother Bumpers, a professional Chess player and instructor, came up with the idea to host a Chess event at Province Council as a unique option for Brothers looking to utilize downtime between the final Business Session and the Closed Banquet. 10 Brothers competed in the tournament, which consisted of 4 timed rounds that allotted each player a total of 15 minutes. The time on the clock declines on each player’s turn. Running out of time results in an automatic loss. Many of the players were new to using Chess clocks, but they were not discouraged and enjoyed the challenge.

In the end, 4 Brothers emerged as Champions and were awarded trophies for their outstanding Chess performances. Tying for 3rd Place were Brothers Mike Harris and Casey Wokocha of the Epsilon Chi Chapter. 2nd Place was awarded to Brother Daryl Lowen of the Cincinnati Alumni Chapter, and 1st Place and the title of “ECP Chess Champion” was awarded to Brother Ray Lowe of the Cleveland Alumni Chapter, who had a perfect score of 4 wins, 0 losses.

All Brothers in attendance were pleased with the experience and requests have already been made for this event to become an annual Province tradition. Brother Bumpers would like to see other Provinces host similar events and ultimately put together a Conclave Chess tournament with the top players from each Province going head to head.